Blond:ish Wants To “Leave A Legacy” With Her DJ Sets

Blond:ish has a lot going on at the moment. In 2025, the Canadian DJ held an 11-week residency at Ibiza’s Pacha, becoming the venue’s first-ever female headliner. She also released 12 tracks under her debut album Never Walk Alone — but that’s not all the new music the 44-year-old artist has in the pipeline. “I have 60 tracks sitting on my hard drive,” she tells Elite Daily. “I’m just trying to figure out how to release them.”

Historically, Blond:ish, whose real name is Vivie-ann Bakos, hadn’t put this much thought into releasing music. “Before, I was a club DJ and I was just putting out tracks. Now I understand my purpose around music. I really want to unlock people’s best lives. My own, too.” As if she doesn’t already have enough options, she’s heading to a friend’s house (Diplo’s) in two weeks for a makeshift music writing retreat.

We’re chatting in between her gigs at Palm Tree Festival’s Aspen leg, a two-day EDM festival in mid-February. She’s just played for 6,000 people in the snow at Rio Grande Park, alongside a lineup including Calvin Harris, Kygo, Mau P, and Sammy Virji. She’s coolly decked out in a cherry-red ski suit, wasabi-green beanie, and black gloves, keeping warm with a classic marg with Don Julio 1942 Tequila. She’ll be hitting up two bars for back-to-back afterparty sets in just a few hours.

After having played at the Palm Tree Festival’s Hamptons stop in 2025, Blond:ish is becoming a fast regular at the EDM fest. She’s heading to Las Vegas twice this year for Palm Tree Club (in May and September), and her lengthy lineup of cities includes New York in May, Barcelona in June for Primavera Sound, and Ibiza for 12 nights at Pacha. Her itinerary is so packed, even she can’t keep up. “I have no idea what’s going on right now. I’m just de-thawing,” she says.

The crowds are also getting much bigger. “Our shows are scaling from 2,000 to 5,000 to 10,000 people,” she says, crediting the surge to her connection with the audience. “The intention is in everything we’re doing, and people are feeling it.”

Ahead, Blond:ish chats about her pre-show rituals, upcoming music, and creating at Diplo’s house.

Elite Daily: Congratulations on your set!

Blond:ish: Thank you.

ED: What are you looking forward to now that it’s done?

B: I have a lot of friends here, and Aspen is really small, so I’m going to go see them one by one, and then I’m going to go play Belly Up later tonight and AM7 after that.

ED: I know that you love connection and interacting with the crowd. How is it different playing at festivals versus in smaller venues?

B: The distance they are from you. It’s an energy play. It’s like “How am I going to translate my craft into a big room when they’re so far away? How do you connect with them?” I still do it by making eye contact with people, but it’s also a confidence thing. The confidence that your music travels.

I’ll get pumped up right before I go on, but I need my moment by myself before a show to set intentions.

ED: How do you prepare mentally before a show?

B: I get pretty grounded, because everyone’s coming with different energies. I don’t want to absorb any of that. I do a little qigong for five minutes, really, really quick. Qigong is an Eastern practice, and I make this energy bubble around me, so that it bounces off any energies and I can give my truest energy to people. I’ll get pumped up right before I go on, but I need my moment by myself before a show to set intentions.

ED: What do you eat and drink pre-show?

B: I don’t eat gluten before a show, and I don’t have a shot of tequila before I play. But after the first two songs, when I feel comfortable, then I’m like, “OK, let’s have a margarita.” That’s what I’m drinking now. A margarita with Don Julio 1942. It warms you up right away.

ED: You’re playing a few festivals this year, including Primavera Sound. What about Primavera is most exciting for you?

E: I prepare more. I have to dig deeper on my music. It’s a challenge, because they’re real music-heads. It’s pretty underground. When I used to have more time, I would be digging, digging, digging, going to record stores and online too. I’m so busy these days so I’m not digging as much, but I’ve got to dig for them. You just make your own music.

ED: And you have 60 tracks ready to go.

B: I have 60 tracks, but I’m also going to make fresh ones for that. I’m going to Jamaica in two weeks to Diplo’s with 10 of my friends. Diplo has a house there, and it’s paradise. I go there once a year to write music.

ED: How long does that usually last?

B: I’m going for eight days.

ED: Is there anything you can share about the 60 tracks you have in the vault?

B: I split the types of music I’m making into three categories. I have the stuff people know me for, which is my club music. Then there’s mushroom tapes, the introspective stuff. Then there’s also the dance music for a wider audience, because if I want to help one billion people live their best life, I can’t do it in my little niche of house underground.

ED: How would you describe your go-to on-stage style?

B: Liana [Hillison, my wife,] dresses me. She’s my stylist. I like everything that I do to connect with people, so I also want my ’fit to connect with people. Sometimes it has hidden messages, and the people that want to dig deeper can see it.

ED: Like Easter eggs?

B: Always. I always need Easter eggs. There’ll be messaging on my shirt.

I want people to leave our party like, ‘Holy sh*t, I felt something that is outside of me.’

ED: You became the first woman to do a residency at Ibiza’s Pacha. Is there a new milestone you want to hit?

B: I really would love to leave a legacy. When you go to Ibiza, you go to party, and I want people to leave our party like, “Holy sh*t, I felt something that is outside of me,” and then somehow that energy goes back into their life and they do something good with it. That’s the feeling I want people to get.

ED: What else are you trying to manifest this year?

B: Another baby.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.